Ways of finding ET

November 1, 2015 12:40 PM

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1. The most indisputably direct and undeniable “discovery” of alien life would be having their ships show up and start subjugating humans. Or, they don’t enslave humans but just come down and sprinkle magic tech around. Both would be pretty direct … and alarming to say the least. “We come with amazing power and just want you to be happy!” Uh, yeah … but, happy how exactly?

As famed physicist Stephen Hawking put it recently: "We don't know much about aliens, but we know about humans. If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced. A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria." less

1. The most indisputably direct and undeniable “discovery” of alien life would be having their ships show up and start subjugating humans. Or, they don’t enslave humans but just come down and sprinkle ... more

2. Similarly, if an alien civilization beams radio or laser pulses right at us, or we pick up a general broadcast that’s clearly communication (and not just something that could be a message but like the quasar CTA-102 in the 1960s turns out to be a natural process) that’d be pretty definite.
What the signal would mean to us would depend a great deal on what they told us. “Dear Earth, We’ll see you in a 1,000 years. Please prepare all the cages as diagramed and get in them. Love, Aliens.” less

2. Similarly, if an alien civilization beams radio or laser pulses right at us, or we pick up a general broadcast that’s clearly communication (and not just something that could be a message but like the ... more

3. However, since continuously pumping out massive radio waves in possibly billions of frequencies is energy expensive, the aliens might simply park a giant pyramid, say, in orbit around their star.

As explained to us by Seth Shostak, director of the Center for SETI Research, a civilization intent on letting others know they exist could park the “star blocker” — a triangle or a square or some other shape — in orbit knowing another intelligence would eventually get around to looking at starlight fluctuations as evidence of planets.
Once parked in orbit, the thing would just stay there potentially for eons, even long after that civilization’s collapse.

A creature like us would eventually be able to see in the star’s light curve that the shapes were not planets. We would then conclude that it’s an artificial construction and hence life. We’d still be a million generations or so from being able to reach them … So, at best, we’d be voyeurs observing acts occurring thousands of years in the past. less

3. However, since continuously pumping out massive radio waves in possibly billions of frequencies is energy expensive, the aliens might simply park a giant pyramid, say, in orbit around their star.

3. However, since continuously pumping out massive radio waves in... Photo-8887869.119734 - seattlepi.com

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4. Sightly harder to determine but still high up on the obvious scale would be an orbiting megastructure designed for purposes other than communicating a civilization’s presence. This is the possibility being explored right now by SETI crews with big radio telescopes.

NASA’s Kepler spacecraft recorded a dimming of light from the star KIC 8462852 that looks like what astronomers have imagined a megastructure or series of them called a “Dyson sphere” would make.

Wikipedia: "A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures most or all of its power output. The concept was first described by Olaf Stapledon in his science fiction novel, Star Maker (1937), and later popularized by Freeman Dyson in his 1960 paper, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation.”
Image from Wikimedia = https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dyson_Ring.PNG =: An illustration of a Dyson Ring. To scale. Sun is accurately colored according to spectral type. Orbit is depicted at 1 AU radius. Collectors are 1.0 x 107 km in diameter, or ~25 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Collectors are spaced 3 degrees from midpoint to midpoint, around the orbital circle. Camera perspective is from a point 2 AU from the sun." less

4. Sightly harder to determine but still high up on the obvious scale would be an orbiting megastructure designed for purposes other than communicating a civilization’s presence. This is the possibility being ... more

Photo: Getty Images

4. Sightly harder to determine but still high up on the obvious... Photo-8887873.119734 - seattlepi.com

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5. We humans are on the brink of mining asteroids, so any other advanced civilization would likely be bolstering the riches of their home planet through space mining as well. We could possibly see the debris and leftover equipment or space junk from such operations, especially if they’ve been ongoing for a million years or so.
Image: NASA less

5. We humans are on the brink of mining asteroids, so any other advanced civilization would likely be bolstering the riches of their home planet through space mining as well. We could possibly see the debris ... more

Photo: Getty Images

5. We humans are on the brink of mining asteroids, so any other... Photo-8887875.119734 - seattlepi.com

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6. Fantastical-but-exciting aside, THE most likely way we’re going to discover alien life will be when one of NASA’s probes finds microscopic life teaming in water somewhere below or on a planet or moon surface … perhaps only clear artifacts of it.

The most likely candidate for a first discovery is Mars, which has had at one time or other the elements for life as we know it and still does have flowing surface water.
NASA’s life-hunting motto is “Follow the water” since unfrozen liquid water is necessary for life as we know it. less

6. Fantastical-but-exciting aside, THE most likely way we’re going to discover alien life will be when one of NASA’s probes finds microscopic life teaming in water somewhere below or on a planet or moon ... more

7. Life of some sort or other might be discovered living in an habitat zone in the atmosphere of a planet otherwise generally inhospitable to life. After all, it’s only recently been discovered that life survives in the stratosphere, the outer regions of Earth’s atmosphere.

Universe Today wrote of research into these highflying organisms: “Most of the microbes discovered so far are bacterial spores — extremely hardy organisms that can form a protective shell around themselves and thus survive the low temperatures, dry conditions and high levels of radiation found in the stratosphere. Dust storms or hurricanes could presumably deliver the bacteria into the atmosphere where they form spores and are transported across the globe. If they land in a suitable environment they have the ability to reanimate themselves, continuing to survive and multiply.”
The going theory is that the spores are of Earth origin, but they could also be from outer space origins. So, maybe we’ve discovered alien life … just that we don’t recognize it for what it is. less

7. Life of some sort or other might be discovered living in an habitat zone in the atmosphere of a planet otherwise generally inhospitable to life. After all, it’s only recently been discovered that life ... more

Photo: VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS, Getty Images

7. Life of some sort or other might be discovered living in an... Photo-8887866.119734 - seattlepi.com

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8. Life or it’s artifacts might, or might have already, ride here on an asteroid … landing via meteor. Like the radio signal from quasar CTA-102, we’ve already gone down this road and the debate continues today.

As Space.com explains:
Most scientists agree that the meteorite ALH84001 is the oldest meteorite ever found to have come from Mars. In 1996, one research group claimed yes, sending shock waves through the scientific community and beyond. President Bill Clinton made a special address on the apparent discovery, and the media widely broadcasted the scientists' images of what appeared to be dead "bug" remains from the rock. Had we finally met our neighbors?
Then others said no … So, the debate is ongoing. Check out the great story.
Photo: 4.5 billion-year-old rock labeled meteorite ALH84001 believed to be portion of meteorite which fell to Earth from Mars containing fossil evidence of possible life on planet. less

8. Life or it’s artifacts might, or might have already, ride here on an asteroid … landing via meteor. Like the radio signal from quasar CTA-102, we’ve already gone down this road and the debate ... more

9. Similarly, an asteroid or comet hunting spacecraft — like the European Space Agency’s Rosetta craft that landed the probe Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko — could also find life that has survived eons in the radiation bath of cold deep space.

After all, as Vice writes:
“In spite of the low temperatures and high radiation that contribute to space's well-known hostility to life—and NASA's best efforts to construct spacecraft in sterile conditions—some bacterial spores seem built to survive anything. Even traveling through space. New research reveals that space agencies are going to need new methods to sanitize future planetary explorers, because the old ones were designed for old spaceships and old assumptions, and left the door open to the tiniest, most resilient forms of life.

“The discovery that tardigrades, also known as 'water bears,' can survive in the vacuum of space gave rise to all sorts of old questions: if they can survive space, maybe that's where they came from. And if space is survivable, not only can something come to Earth and find a home, but whatever we send up there on shuttles or satellites could be unknowingly carrying life from Earth, too.”

9. Similarly, an asteroid or comet hunting spacecraft — like the European Space Agency’s Rosetta craft that landed the probe Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko — could also find life that has ... more

10. A less direct way to discover life, will be discovering the conditions in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that can be best explained by the presence of life. It’s interesting to note that as we get better at examining the lightwaves passing through a distant planet’s atmosphere as it orbits a strange sun, the better we’ll get at deciphering the biosignature gases of life. Those planets will be too far away to visit with spacecrafts, let alone humans, but the best-by-far explanation for a particular atmospheric composition could be life.

10. A less direct way to discover life, will be discovering the conditions in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that can be best explained by the presence of life. It’s interesting to note that as we get better ... more

Photo: Getty Images

10. A less direct way to discover life, will be discovering the... Photo-8887874.119734 - seattlepi.com

“The probability of detection depends sensitively on the means by which a civilisation suffers annihilation. In most cases, the destruction of a technological civilisation leaves atmospheric traces that persist for a short time, requiring observations to be relatively serendipitous.
“Civilisations which initiate a nuclear catastrophe produce strong but relatively brief signatures of their destruction, which are partially masked by the dust thrown into the atmosphere by multiple nuclear detonations. Victims of bioterrorism produce powerful atmospheric signatures of decaying organic matter, but these dissipate on timescales of a few decades …
“In closing, it is clear that some observational signatures of self­destructive civilisations are currently amenable to astrophysical observations, but these will be challenging, and in some cases will require a degree of luck in observing at the correct time. However, these detection techniques are relatively cheap, as they dovetail neatly with current astronomical surveys. In time, the first evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence may come to us from the remains of less prudent civilisations. In doing so, such information will bring us not only knowledge, but wisdom.” less

“One thing that strikes me (Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute) about claims of alien visitation is that so much of the evidence is musty and fusty.

“Every day, I get stories and articles from people around the world who aggregate UFO news. But much of it is not news – it’s olds. The folks who think there’s good proof that Earth is a stomping ground for extraterrestrials are still hung up on the Roswell incident of 1947 or its British opposite number, the Rendlesham Forest event of 1980. They’re still citing the testimony of aging politicians, defense establishment types, and Apollo astronauts who 'know something.'

“The few alternatives to this vintage archive are contemporary photos and videos of vague lights in the sky, low-resolution and low-confidence material that isn’t likely to sway many scientists. The good stuff seems to be the old stuff.”

13. Side note 2: I will point out that all of the religions of the world point to the existence of extraterrestrial life … so many humans have and do already live with the absolute certainty that extraterrestrials are real, alive and interacting with humans. Take that for what you will. less

13. Side note 2: I will point out that all of the religions of the world point to the existence of extraterrestrial life … so many humans have and do already live with the absolute certainty that ... more

Photo: Danita Delimont, Getty Images

13. Side note 2: I will point out that all of the religions of the... Photo-8887868.119734 - seattlepi.com